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US 12,007,149 B2Granted
Expansion control system on a centrifugal chiller with an integral subcooler
AssigneeCarrier Corporation
InventorsBiswajit Mitra, Hsihua Li, Macey Parrott, Prashant Patel
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A vapor compression system including: a condenser; an evaporator; and an expansion control system on the main flowpath between the condenser and the evaporator, wherein the expansion control system further includes: one or more electronic expansion valves; and a modulated ball valve.
Claims15
A vapor compression system comprising:
- a condenser;
- an evaporator;
- and
- an expansion control system on the a main flowpath between the condenser and the evaporator, wherein the expansion control system further comprises:
- one or more electronic expansion valves;
- and
- a modulated ball valve;
- wherein the modulated ball valve is located in a refrigerant flow path that is in parallel with the one or more electronic expansion valves;
- wherein the expansion control system further comprises:
- an economizer along the main flowpath between the condenser and the expansion control system;
- a ball valve junction point fluidly connecting the expansion control system to the economizer;
- an evaporator junction point fluidly connecting the expansion control system to the evaporator;
- a ball valve line extending from the ball valve junction point to the evaporator junction point, the modulated ball valve being located in the ball valve line;
- and
- an expansion valve line extending from the ball valve junction point to the evaporator junction point, the one or more electronic expansion valves being located in the expansion valve line,
- wherein the ball valve junction point is configured to split the main flowpath into the expansion valve line and the ball valve line, and
- wherein the evaporator junction point is configured to combine the expansion valve line and the ball valve line into the main flowpath.
14 more elements
A method of operating a vapor compression system, the method comprising:
- detecting a surge, a low load, or a low lift situation in the vapor compression system;
- and
- metering a flow of a refrigerant through a main flowpath using one or more electronic expansion valves and a modulated ball valve based on the surge, the low load, or the low lift situation,
- wherein the modulated ball valve and the one or more electronic expansion valves are located in an expansion control system on the main flowpath between a condenser and an evaporator of the vapor compression system;
- wherein the expansion control system further comprises:
- an economizer along the main flowpath between the condenser and the expansion control system;
- a ball valve junction point fluidly connecting the expansion control system to the economizer;
- an evaporator junction point fluidly connecting the expansion control system to the evaporator;
- a ball valve line extending from the ball valve junction point to the evaporator junction point, the modulated ball valve being located in the ball valve line;
- and
- an expansion valve line extending from the ball valve junction point to the evaporator junction point, the one or more electronic expansion valves being located in the expansion valve line,
- wherein the ball valve junction point is configured to split the main flowpath into the expansion valve line and the ball valve line, and
- wherein the evaporator junction point is configured to combine the expansion valve line and the ball valve line into the main flowpath.
10 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.